Flora and fauna in a North Carolina garden.

A SEED WITH A HEART

Last month my family spent three days down in South Carolina desperately searching for a nice place for my son to live.

Although I was intently hunting down a suitable dwelling, I did manage to stumble upon the vine of my dreams and snag some seeds.

I have been known to return from trips with acorns in my pockets and seeds in my wallet, but I did get permission this time.

The lovely vine was in that charming little town, Cheraw. When I mention this town’s name to my North Carolina neighbors they recall passing through there on the way to the beach. You may recognize this building at the main square.

You folks need to stop in this town to stretch your legs from now on. It is a southern delight of lovely flowers, tasty food and nice people. We felt like old friends everywhere we went. I am a happy mama that my son is surrounded by good folks.

I took a picture of the vine of my dreams with my phone and rushed to the nearest open business, which happened to be the aforementioned, “Charmed by Cheraw” Chamber of Commerce. This is where we found all the help we all needed.

The nice woman there handled my vine emergency while the nice man assisted my son with his housing emergency. She picked up the phone and called the garden club that plants the planters around town.

A member of the Cheraw Garden Club shared the name of the vine and gave me permission to purloin a few ripened pods containing seeds. A card had actually been attached with plant information to the trellis, but it had fallen down. These are my kind of people!

Card posted with information attached to the vine.

So here it is my fellow garden enthusiaists. The vine of my dreams in the phloem.

Cardiospermum helicacabum

It looks like a party on a trellis doesn’t it? It’s the combination of tiny white flowers and pods of various colors that reminds me of confetti. It’s hither and slither growth adds to the explosion effect. What a happy little plant!

The species name is Cardiosperma helicacabum. My guess is that the genus name refers to the black seeds that have a tiny white heart on each one. They look like love beads.

The real punch in the line is the common name, Love in a Puff. I am not making this up folks.

Before you rush to order it from Burpee, I must alert my southern readers that my research warns that Cardiospermum halicacabum may be an invasive, self-seeding annual in Southern zones of 6 and up.

I also read that this delightful plant has been around for two hundred years. Why am I just now finding out about it? Well the secret is out now!

I intend to handle my little seedlings with the same care as I have my other potential renegades… in a pot.

I’ll be sharing my progress with seed germination in April. I do have quite a few seeds collected…legally of course.